FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT JURY TRIAL - PAGE 5

GAYLORD — Otsego County’s 46th Circuit Court Judge Janet Allen was forced to declare a mistrial Monday after jurors in the assault with intent to murder trial of James Platte Jr. were unable to reach a verdict following two days of deliberations. Allen said jurors were deadlocked on all three counts — assault with intent to murder, a felony with a penalty of up to life in prison; fleeing the scene of a personal injury accident, a five-year-felony; and domestic violence-aggravated assault, a one-year misdemeanor — resulting in the hung jury which compelled Allen to declare the mistrial.

A jury trial for an East Jordan man facing a homicide charge has been dismissed in Charlevoix County's 33rd Circuit Court - for now. Charlevoix County Prosecutor John Jarema told the News-Review in a phone interview Friday, that he dismissed the trial against 23-year-old Zachary Charles Woodthorp on Monday - a day before the trial was scheduled to begin - in light of new evidence, which he believes could change the case. Woodthorp was scheduled to face a two-day jury trial Oct. 13-14 in Charlevoix County Circuit Court for one count of involuntary manslaughter - a 15-year felony - for allegedly causing the Nov. 5, 2008, traffic crash on Boyne City-East Jordan Road that killed 65-year-old James Richard Browe of Ellsworth.

CHARLEVOIX - Gerald Shane Schoolcraft is in prison through a plea bargain, sentenced last month for felony attempted criminal sexual conduct against a 5-year-old girl. Authorities arrested Schoolcraft, 51, of Charlevoix County's Hayes Township, last year and charged him with one first-degree and three second-degree counts of criminal sexual conduct, as well as being a habitual offender. The crime happened in early October 2010, records show. The original charges carried 25- and 15-year prison sentences, while the habitual offender status elevated the potential sentence to life in prison.

A Petoskey man will face a jury trial later this summer for criminal sexual conduct. Scott Douglas Jewell, 36, who is alleged to have sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy from April 2009 to May 2010 in Emmet County, is facing trial Aug. 31-Sept. 2 in 57th Circuit Court for eight of his original 14 felony counts. According to an affidavit in circuit court, the victim reportedly told police that Jewell assaulted him more than 20 times, but less than 100 times, during the past year, with assaults occurring in Pellston, Alanson and the Petoskey area.

A Petoskey man who is facing weapons, child abuse and domestic violence charges, is scheduled to go to trial early next year. Craig Thomas Hand, 20, of Resort Township, who is alleged to have abused his wife and 11-month-old daughter, as well as threatened them with a gun, is scheduled for a two-day jury trial Jan. 11-12 in 57th Circuit Court. Hand was arrested Sept. 11 by deputies from the Emmet County Sheriff's Department after he was alleged, by his wife, to have verbally assaulted her and her daughter before pushing them to the ground.

A Boyne City man is scheduled to be sentenced today in Otsego County’s 46th Circuit Court for criminal sexual conduct. Steven Wayne Gardner, 23, who allegedly had sexual contact with two 13-year-old girls during the month of March in both Emmet and Otsego counties, originally faced multiple criminal sexual conduct charges. In Emmet County he faces one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct (person 13-15), which is a 15-year felony; a second, or subsequent offender enhancement, which could double his maximum penalty; and habitual offender-second offense, which could enhance his maximum penalty by half.

Note: This story was updated Nov. 11 at 3 p.m. GAYLORD - James Platte Jr., 33, received a 30-50 year sentence Tuesday after he was found guilty last month in an August 2006 incident in Bagley Township in which he intentionally crashed the vehicle he was driving with his then girlfriend Dianna Horridge sitting in the passenger seat. Otsego County 46th Circuit Court Judge Janet Allen said Platte, who is currently serving a term of up to 15 years in prison on two counts of drug possession in Otsego County, received the sentence after he was found guilty by a jury Oct. 18 on one count each of assault with intent to murder, fleeing the scene of a personal injury accident and domestic violence - aggravated assault.

ATLANTA - Sentencing for David A. Goodwill, convicted of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Jason Paul Fontenot, is scheduled for Monday, Dec. 11, at 1:30 p.m. in Montmorency County's 26th Circuit Court. The four-day jury trial concluded Sept. 29. Defense attorney Peter Samouris had argued the Lewiston man killed Fontenot, a Louisiana oilfield employee working in the Lewiston area, in self-defense on Oct. 16. The jury deliberated for approximately four hours, returning with a guilty verdict.

not guilty STANDISH - A 12-member Arenac County jury Friday found 29-year-old Kenneth Powell of Gaylord not guilty of killing his estranged wife and a family friend in Clare in September of 1999. The jury began deliberating Thursday afternoon after the prosecutor and defense attorney rested their cases following nearly two weeks of testimony. The jury resumed deliberating Friday morning at 9 a.m. and in the afternoon returned the not guilty verdict. Clare County Prosecutor Norm E. Gage said he was "terribly disappointed to say the least.

CHARLEVOIX - The Lyle Barkley family's quest for justice in local courts over a zoning violation ended Friday when Circuit Judge Richard Pajtas dismissed their appeal of a lower court order to remove three pre-manufactured housing units from the property on Camp Daggett Road in Bay Township. Pajtas had given the Barkleys until Friday to file an appeal brief and to provide a "reasonable excuse" for their delay in doing so before the deadline expired last month. Instead, Pajtas said, the Barkleys, acting as their own attorneys, had asked for a further 60-day extension of the deadline.